Page 360 – Electronics-Lab.com

STMicroelectronics STM32H723-733 725-735 & 730 Arm® Cortex®-M7 core

Posted on 21 September, 2020 by mixos

The STM32H723/733, STM32H725/735, and STM32H730 lines are leaning on the STM32H7 DNA

The STM32H723/733, STM32H725/735, and STM32H730 lines are leaning on the STM32H7 DNA. They provide maximum performance up to 550 MHz, high integration with embedded Flash memory of 128 KB (for STM32H730 family) and up to 1 Mbyte (for STM32H723/733 and STM32H725/735 family), advanced security features, ECC on all embedded memories, while maintaining support for high operating ambient temperature, up to 125 °C. This new series of microcontrollers brings the highest Cortex M7 performance in the market, and allows customers to execute from external encrypted flash memories, hence avoiding exposing their sensitive SW IP even on external memory.

Key features

Fast 16-bit and 12-bit ADCs
LCD-TFT controller with Chrom-ART Accelerator™
On-the-fly decryption of code stored in external memory
Ethernet, FD-CAN, USB 2.0 HS/FS

Additional features

Max Frequency up to 550MHz
Octal-SPI support with On-The-Fly-Decryption for increased perf vs Quad-SPI, more security and Octal-RAM support
Math acceleration (Trigonometric and Filtering) to off-load the core
ITCM RAM re-map capability for more flexibility in the code partitioning
Fast 12-bit ADC (in addition to the 16-bit ADC) for more flexibility
Parallel synchronous slave interface (PSSI) for more connectivity
New VFQFPN68 introduced for a more aggressive entry price and integration

STM32H730 Value Line :

Reduced Flash size down to 128KB mainly for user Bootloader storage and adjust to external memories environment
Secure services/Crypto/On-The-Fly-Decrypt by default on the STM32H730xxx and STM32H730xxxQ part numbers

more information: www.st.com

SGP40-D-R4 Indoor Air Quality Sensor

Posted on 21 September, 2020 by mixos

Sensirion’s SGP40 VOC sensor is designed for air purifiers or demand-controlled ventilation

The SGP40 is Sensirion’s digital volatile organic compounds (VOC) sensor designed for easy integration into air treatment devices and air quality monitors. Based on Sensirion’s CMOSens® technology, the SGP40 offers a complete sensor system on a single chip and features a digital I²C interface, a temperature-controlled micro-hotplate, and a humidity-compensated indoor air quality signal. In combination with Sensirion’s powerful VOC algorithm, the sensor signal can be directly used to evaluate indoor air quality for applications such as triggering the gradual fan control of an air treatment device. Both the SGP40 chip and VOC algorithm feature unrivaled robustness in the final application over their lifetimes. Pushing the multi-pixel and multi-hotplate approach to the next level of individual control of each sensing element, the SGP40 enables a drastic reduction in power consumption, making it suitable for battery-driven applications as well. Sensirion’s state-of-the-art production process guarantees high reproducibility and reliability.

Features

Interface: I²C
Supply voltage range: 1.7 V to 3.6 V
Current consumption: 2.6 mA to 3.5 mA (at 3.3 V or 1.8 V, respectively)
Measurement range: 0 ppm to 1,000 ppm of ethanol equivalents
Sensor output: digital 16-bit raw signal
Processed output: digital VOC index signal
Response time: <10 s (tau 63%)
Limit of detection: <0.05 ppm of ethanol equivalents or <10% of concentration setpoint (whichever is larger)
Switch-on time: <60 s
On-chip humidity compensation: yes

Applications

Air purifiers
Kitchen hoods
Demand-controlled ventilation
Thermostats
Indoor air quality monitoring

more information: www.sensirion.com

RISC-V-based System-on-Chip (SoC) FPGA Development Kit from Microchip for PolarFire SoC

Posted on 21 September, 2020 by mixos

Microchip Technology Inc. has introduced a RISC-V-based System-on-Chip (SoC) Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) development kit for PolarFire® SoC FPGA. The Icicle Development Kit allows the designers who need a programmable RISC-V based SOC FPGA to develop and evaluate the broad network of RISC-V ecosystem products such as Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS), debuggers, compilers, System On Modules (SOMs), and security solutions.

The Mi-V RISC-V Partner Ecosystem provides an extensive set of tools and design resources from Microchip and numerous third parties for better RISC-V designs.

Microchip’s Icicle Kit for PolarFire SoC and Mi-V ecosystem enables PolarFire SoC FPGAs with:

RISC-V processor complex from SiFive and embedded trace macro from UltraSoC
Development tools from Adacore, Green Hills Software, Mentor Graphics, and Wind River
Commercial RTOS solutions such as Nucleus and VxWorks that complement Microchip’s Linux® and bare-metal solutions
Middleware solutions from DornerWorks, Hex Five, Veridify Security and wolfSSL
SOM and design services from organizations such as Antmicro, ARIES Embedded, Digital Core Technologies, Emdalo Technologies, Sundance DSP, and Trenz Electronic

The Icicle Kit acts as a full-featured platform for development as the kit is centered around 250K Logic Element (LE) PolarFire SoC device and includes a PCIe® connector, mikroBUS™ socket, dual RJ45 connector, Micro-USB connector, CAN bus connector, Raspberry Pi® header, JTAG port, and SD Card interfaces. The board is also supported with reliable power management and clocking devices, an Ethernet PHY (VSC8662XIC), USB controller (USB3340-EZK-TR), and current sensors (PAC1934T-I/JQ).

The PolarFire SoC FPGAs can deliver up to 50% lower total power than competing devices. The Icicle Kit for PolarFire SoC FPGAs is best suitable for smart embedded imaging, IoT, industrial automation, defense, automotive, and communication applications. For more information about the Icicle Development Kit for PolarFire(SoC) FPGAs, visit the official website of Microchip Technology, Inc.

Availability

Microchip’s Icicle Kit for PolarFire SoC FPGAs (MPFS-ICICLE-KIT-ES) is available today starting at $489.00. PolarFire FPGAs are in production today with early samples of the SoC FPGA available today. For additional information, or to purchase the kit, contact a Microchip sales representative or authorized worldwide distributor.

Seeed Studio Makes Design for Assembly (DFA) Review Free for All PCB Assembly Orders with Seeed Fusion

Posted on 21 September, 202021 September, 2020 by Tope Oluyemi

Good news! Seeed Studio is now including the highly acclaimed Design for Assembly (DFA) review with every PCBA order – 100% free! They say

“No prices have been hiked up or additional fees squeezed in anywhere, go ahead, check. We simply cannot understate the value of this service, and we recommend it so much that we are throwing it in completely free from now on.”

This is the first among many of a new series of developments outlined, with an emphasis on their most comprehensive offering at Seeed Fusion, small batch PCB assembly (PCBA). Each month for the next few months, they will be announcing a new upgrade or offer for the community, whether it’s special offers or easier access to their best value-added services. About the reason for the DFA, Seeed studio says

“With the increasing popularity of outsourcing manufacturing, faster prototyping and more frequent but smaller batch runs, verifying a design at the earliest stage becomes more and more important, if not necessary. It is no longer sufficient to wing-it and just hope things turn out for the best on the production floor, where mistakes are the most destructive.”

For those who don’t know how a DFA works, A PCBA Design for Assembly (DFA) review utilizes the information contained in the PCB Gerber files, Bill of Materials, X-Y file, and other available information to verify the successful production and optimal yield of an electronic device. The Seeed Fusion DFM review service gives your design a thorough check from our own expert engineers to ensure a smooth and punctual production run. The Seeed PCBA DFA review checks for problems pertaining to the final assembled PCB. We do this by looking at the compatibility of the constituent parts (PCB and components) with each other and the intended assembly method. Therefore, unlike a PCB DFM review, a DFA review calls on the combined product development expertise of an electrical engineer with shop-floor manufacturing experience. After the review, you will be sent a Design for Assembly report with any findings, suggested changes, and their level of importance.

About the success of DFA, Seeed says

“Admittedly, digging up datasheets to check the pads and positions of hundreds of parts is tedious and laborious work. No one wants to do it. But the DFA service has consistently proven itself and saved many a backside. Since it’s first introduction late last year, Seeed’s DFA engineers have consistently detected problems in over 80% of PCBA orders – 80%! Even the most meticulous of designers are not immune, one tiny hiccup can lead to weeks of delays and expensive re-runs.”

Seeed Fusion offers you the opportunity to Power-Up your PCBA experience. You can utilize the unique online quoting platform that fetches complete turnkey PCB Assembly quotations, including parts procurement and PCB manufacture in seconds. All you need to do is to add functional testing or programming services, then await your personalized DFA report from our in-house engineers. Seeed Studio has gotten a lot of positive feedback regarding the DFA service despite the large engineering cost, and they are delighted to offer this unique service for free for Seeed Fusion PCBA customers.

“We are confident you will not be disappointed.”

You can visit the announcement page for more information.

$10 System-on-Module Drives Full HD Smart Displays via SigmaStar SSD201 SoC

Posted on 21 September, 2020 by Micael Coutinho

Are you looking for a cheap Full HD display driver? Then you may have come to the right place! SigmaStar, one of the cheapest camera processors manufacturer on the market, just released the new low-cost module IDO-SOM2D01, built upon their own SSD201 SOC, a Smart HD Display Controller.

The SSD201 itself is a highly integrated SoC. It is based on a dual-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor, integrates H.264/H.265 video decoder, 2D graphics engine and TTL/MIPI display with adjustable picture quality engine, among with other peripherals that make it useful for smart display applications. The full list of specs are:

ARM Cortex-A7 dual core up to 1.2GHz (32kB I-cache + 32kB D-cache + 256 kB L2-cache, Neon and FPU, MMU for Linux support and DMA engine)
64MB embedded DDR2 and 128 MB flash (with support for 2GB) memories, with support for SD card
H.264/AVC and H.265/HEVC decoders (supports up to Full HD resolution with 60 fps decode)
JPEG decoder (supports JPEG baseline encoding in YUV422 or YUV420 formats, up to Full HD resolution with 15 fps)
Display subsystem with built-in contrast, brightness, sharpness and saturation control, TTL output up to HD 60fps, MIPI TX DSI 4-lane output up to Full HD 60fps and max speed 1.5Gbps
Integrated 2D graphics hardware accelerator
Audio processor supporting 1 micropohone input, two stereo DMIC inputs and one stereo DAC for lineout
NOR/NAND flash, SDIO and USB 2.0 interfaces (two high speed USB 2.0 hosts) and support for 2 ethernet ports
Built-in RTC with ultra low power mode (<3uA) for long battery operation
Dedicated GPIOs for system control, 4x PWM outputs, 3x generic UARTs and 1x fast UART with flow control, 1x SPI, 2x I2C, 1x IR input, 3-channel SAR ADC
Support for secure boot and AES/DES/3DES cypher engines, to help encrypt compressed audio/video files for privacy

When you take a look at the features, it takes a while to realize the size of this module, coming at an area of 2.95cm x 2.95cm and weighing only 8 grams! But how can you get your hands on one? Well, I would say that’s a tad bit complicated since the company is Chinese and so is the majority of the information you can find online, such as a promising Linux BSP that supposedly boots in one second. But if you are feeling quite adventurous, you can get the module itself for around $10 and a development board with the IDO-SOM2D01 is also there for around $200.

Aside from the possibly difficult development, there is a wide range of applications suitable for this module, with smart home displays, HMI interfaces, and medical electronics being some of them. And you, what use would you give to the module, or is it just too mysterious for you?

Module Taobao link: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z10.3-c-s.w4002-22922295230.31.f8c42026gQQiF7&id=626360917782

2-channel USB thermocouple sensor using STM32

Posted on 21 September, 202021 September, 2020 by Micael Coutinho

A thermocouple is one of the most utilized sensors nowadays when measuring temperature. From the tip of your soldering iron to your gas oven, its value is undeniable, so if you are not integrating one in your projects, then you should! They are cheap and extremely useful. If you are, you probably wanted to test a thermocouple or wanted to take quick temperature measurements with the aid of your computer. Well, now you can!

The maker Richard Klinger developed a convenient and quite simple to use 2-channel thermocouple sensor that works via USB. It is composed of a small 60mm x 80mm PCB that connects to your computer via USB and reads out the temperatures of two type K thermocouple sensors via a MAX31855 ADC. The ADC is then connected to an STM32F070CBT6 microcontroller, powered by the popular ST platform and easily configured and tinkered by the STM32CubeIDE.

When the device is powered from the USB port, it starts sending out the measurements from the sensors as CSV values. It can also receive commands, to set the RTC clock and the interval between measurements (which can be on a relative interval or a specific time). The device runs in USB CDC mode, making it possible to work in any terminal program since the device registers to the host computer as a serial interface. It can also be set into DFU bootloader mode so that a different firmware can be flashed by you. Lastly, in case of errors, caused for instance by a defective sensor, the according to channel won’t output values, which makes sense when only one channel is used. If both are unavailable, then you get an error.

Besides the PCB, the project is accompanied by a PyQt based interface, containing a plot of both sensor measurements over time and allowing you to configure the timings. Unfortunately, if you are uncomfortable with using a command-line interface, you will have to, at least to convert the interface python script into an executable. Apart from the interface, there are also STL models for the front and back panels, but the casing ends there, where the casing around the PCB would be deeply appreciated and give you another reason to make and support this project.

The PyQt interface that accompanies the PCB project

You may have realized it from all the files involved, but if you didn’t, the project is completely hosted on Github, so you can access the STM32 files, the PyQt interface, the KiCad PCB, and the OpenSCAD files for free, which is insane, considering the completeness of it. Overall, this is quite an interesting project and should be worth your time.

Github of the project: https://github.com/richardklingler/usbthermocouple

ADLINK Puts the Ease in Machine Vision AI Integration and Deployment

Posted on 19 September, 2020 by mixos

ADLINK’s all new NEON-1000-MDX smart camera and edge vision software come together to quickly add machine vision intelligence and automation within industrial environments

Summary:

ADLINK’s all new NEON-1000-MDX AI Smart Camera combines the Intel® Movidius™ Myriad™ X Vision Processing Unit (VPU) and ADLINK Edge™ software as a turn-key solution for quick and easy machine vision AI deployment
The ADLINK Edge™ software platform now includes Edge Vision Analytics which together, can classify what it sees, become smarter over time, create automation workflows and provide device management for quick proof of concepts
The all new NEON-1000-MDX is now offered as part of the award-winning Smart Pallet turn-key solution proven to deliver a 90% reduction in traditional production time without disrupting current processes

ADLINK Technology Inc., a global leader in edge computing, has launched the all new NEON-1000-MDX Smart Camera series together with its Smart Pallet solution, combining the Intel® Movidius™ Myriad™ X VPU, which supports inference models optimized by OpenVINOTM , and ADLINK’s Edge™ vision software to add AI-based machine vision into existing environments easily and quickly. The all-in-one solution allows machine vision experts and developers to build, test and deploy machine learning (ML) models faster, while giving IoT solution teams and system integrators the tools to connect, stream and automate machine vision work.

“We’re all feeling the pressure of ramped up production during these unprecedented times. Machine vision AI is one of the quickest, easiest and most cost-effective ways to add automation into existing processes without disrupting current workflows,” said Kevin Hsu, Senior Product Manager of ADLINK’s IoT Solutions and Technology Business Unit. “Our Smart Pallet solution, for instance, has proven to deliver a 90% reduction in traditional barcode scanning time while also enabling customized, built-to-order pallets with no changes to the production line other than the smart camera’s installation. Using the highly integrated NEON-1000 effectively decreases the footprint, reliability and compatibility issue and also saves maintenance efforts for customers.”

The Intel Movidius Myriad X VPU (vision processing unit) optimizes ML models and can provide some of the highest AI computing power. Eliminating complex integration of sensor modules, cables and VPU modules, the NEON-1000-MDX Smart Camera simplifies the machine vision deployment process. With the pre-installed EVA (Edge Vision Analytics) SDK, users can deploy neural networks optimized by OpenVINO™ without extra coding or integration efforts using a wide range of ready to use plug-ins based on environment and system requirements.

The new all-in-one NEON-1000-MDX AI smart camera supports product classification and defect detection to maximize production efficiency in smart manufacturing, as seen with the award-winning ADLINK Edge™ Smart Pallet solution. Smart Pallet adds intelligence and automation to manual warehouse fulfillment operations such as receiving, bin picking, packing, shipping and worker safety. Smart Pallet provides an end-to-end integrated system to connect new and existing equipment, capture multiple image data streams and apply the high performance processing power of the NEON-1000-MDX VPUs to enable machine learning and inferencing at the edge.

With the ADLINK Edge™ software platform developers can connect and integrate with any existing cloud, machine learning platform, neural network, industrial camera, machine vision system, piece of machinery and more regardless of vendor. ADLINK’s machine vision AI software can classify what it sees, become smarter over time and also create automation workflows.

“For instance, if a box contains the incorrect order on a conveyor system, it can send an alert to a conveyor’s sorter to divert the box to a re-check area,” said Steve Cammish, VP of ADLINK’s IoT Solutions and Technology. “We’re bringing software developers intuitive programming, automation and device management running on a powerful smart camera designed for AI workloads. The automation here is key- saving time, decreasing costs and reducing complexity.”

ADLINK’s machine vision AI technology has won 5 awards year-to-date. To request a demo, visit ADLINK here.

Tektronix Delivers Industry’s First 10 GHz Oscilloscope with 4, 6 or 8 Channels

Posted on 18 September, 2020 by mixos

Tektronix, Inc. announced the availability of the new 6 Series B Mixed Signal Oscilloscope (MSO) which extends the performance threshold of the Tektronix Mainstream Oscilloscopes Portfolio to 10 GHz and 50 GS/sec. Developed to meet the demand for high-speed data movement and processing in embedded designs, the enhanced 6 Series B MSO offers leading signal fidelity with12-bit ADCs and extremely low noise, 10 GHz bandwidth and up to 8 FlexChannel™ inputs, enabling users to confidently analyze and debug today’s embedded systems while enjoying exceptional ease of use. Alongside the 6 Series B MSO, Tektronix is also introducing the new TDP7710 TriMode™ Probe, which extends the line of TriMode™ probes to match the advancements of the new oscilloscope.

“At Tektronix, we are dedicated to providing high-performing test and measurement equipment that meets the growing industry need for a precise balance of speed and accuracy,” says Chris Witt, vice president and general manager at Tektronix. “Embedded designs are growing more sophisticated by incorporating additional sensors that generate increasing amounts of data. This instrument addresses the new requirements of testing these systems to advance video, motion and 3D sensing technologies.”

The new 6 Series B MSO goes beyond the expected, allowing top manufacturers to bring cutting-edge and higher performance products to industrial, medical, consumer, and computer markets. Beautifully designed, this instrument is poised for higher-speed embedded designs, demanding mixed-signal design troubleshooting, and accelerating serial bus speeds. The 6 Series B MSO is also highly-effective for diverse applications in semiconductors, power integrity, automotive, defense, aerospace, research, and beyond.

Exceptional Measurement Confidence

The 6 Series B MSO offers a superior combination of bandwidth, sample rate, vertical resolution, low noise and high ENOB, providing exceptional measurements and confidence. With up to 10 GHz of fully-upgradable bandwidth and up to 50 GS/s sample rate, users have better visibility of signals in high-performance designs. This instrument delivers industry-leading signal fidelity, contributing less than 51.1 µV of noise at 1 mV/div and 1 GHz, and less than 1.39mV of noise at 50 mV/div and 10 GHz. The 6 Series B MSO is the industry’s first oscilloscope with bandwidth more than 2 GHz to offer 4, 6 or 8 channels. Each FlexChannel™ input can be converted into 8 digital channels using a TLP058 Logic Probe for added visibility.

Premier Analysis

The 6 Series B MSO offers a range of options to streamline protocol decoding, compliance testing for serial standards, jitter analysis, and power analysis. Built-in digital down converters (DDCs) behind every channel enable multi-channel spectrum analysis, and spectrum measurements are synchronized with time domain waveforms to enable correlation between RF and time events.

Outstanding User Experience

The 6 Series B MSO’s responsive 15.6 inch HD capacitive pinch-zoom-swipe touch display is the industry’s largest, providing an intuitive drag and drop, object-oriented user interface. This series expansion includes the world’s first 10 GHz oscilloscope that is capable of switching between Windows 10 and closed operating systems, without loss of performance or ease-of-use. The 6 Series B MSO contains a removable SSD; which, along with optional security licenses, enables use of the oscilloscope in secure environments by minimizing cybersecurity threats. The TekVPI™ probe interface, known for versatility and ease-of-use, communicates seamlessly with a wide range of probes, to simplify setup and reduce errors, furthering an outstanding user experience for engineers. The new TDP7710 TriMode Probe is a perfect example, with 10 GHz bandwidth and the ability to switch from making differential to common mode to single-ended measurements, without having to reconnect the probe.

more information: https://www.tek.com/oscilloscope

Analog Clock Motor Driver Implementation Using GreenPAK™

Posted on 18 September, 202021 March, 2024 by mixos

Introduction

Even in a digital world, classic analog clocks have a timeless style. This simple but universal technology is presented in the article. The implemented project uses a dual-rail GreenPAK™ SLG46121 which can perform all the active electronic functions needed in an analog clock, including motor driver and crystal oscillator. Additionally, GreenPAK ICs are low-cost and tiny devices that fit right in with smartwatches. As an easy-to-build demonstration, the author obtained a cheap wall clock, removed the existing board, and replaced all the active electronics with one GreenPAK device.

Background: Lavet Type Stepper Motors

A typical analog clock uses a Lavet type stepper motor to turn the pinion gear of the clock mechanism. It is a single-phase motor that consists of a flat stator (stationary part of the motor) with an inductive coil wrapped around an arm. Between the arms of the stator lies the rotor (moving part of the motor) which consists of a circular permanent magnet with a pinion gear attached to the top of it. The pinion gear coupled with other gears moves the clock hands. The motor works by alternating the polarity of the current in the stator coil with a pause between the polarity changes. During current pulses, the induced magnetism pulls the motor to align the poles of the rotor and stator. While the current is off, the motor is pulled to one of two other positions by reluctant force. These reluctance rest positions are engineered by the design of non-uniformities (notches) in the metal motor housing so that the motor rotates in one direction (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Lavet Type Stepper Motor Rotation Pattern (Source: en.wikipedia.org, accessed in 2018)

Motor Driver

The attached design uses an SLG46121V to produce the required current waveforms through the stator coil. Separate 2x push-pull outputs on the IC (labeled M1 and M2) connect to each end of the coil and drive the alternating pulses. It is necessary to use push-pull outputs for this device to operate correctly.

The waveform consists of a 10 ms pulse each second, alternating between M1 and M2 with each pulse. The pulses are created with just a few blocks driven from a simple 32.768 kHz crystal oscillator circuit. The OSC block conveniently has built-in dividers to help divide down the 32.768 kHz clock. CNT1 outputs a clock pulse every second. This pulse triggers a 10 ms one-shot circuit. Two LUTs (labeled 1 and 2) demultiplex the 10 ms pulse to the output pins. Pulses are passed to M1 when DFF5 output is high, M2 when low.

Figure 2: Circuit Diagram of Internal Connections

Crystal Oscillator

The 32.768 kHz crystal oscillator uses just two pin blocks on the chip. PIN12 (OSC_IN) is set as a low-voltage digital input (LVDI), which has a relatively low switching current. The signal from PIN12 feeds into the OE of PIN10 (FEEDBACK_OUT). PIN10 is configured as a 3-state output with input wired to the ground, making it act like an open drain NMOS output. This signal path naturally inverts, so no other block is needed. Externally, the PIN 10 output is pulled up to VDD2 (PIN11) by a 1MΩ resistor (R4). Both PIN10 and PIN12 are powered by the VDD2 rail, which in-turn is current limited 1 MΩ resistor to VDD. R1 is a feedback resistor to bias the inverting circuit, and R2 limits the output drive. Adding the crystal and capacitors completes the Pierce oscillator circuit as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Circuit Diagram of External Connections

Results

VDD was powered by a CR2032 lithium coin battery which typically provides 3.0 V (3.3 V when fresh). The output waveform consists of alternating 10 ms pulses as shown below in Figure 4. Averaged over a minute, the measured current draw was roughly 97 uA including the motor drive. Without the motor, the current draw was 2.25 μA.

Figure 4: Motor Driver Output Waveform, 10 ms on, 990 ms off

Conclusion

This article demonstrates the usage of a GreenPAK IC aimed to create a complete solution for driving an analog clock stepper motor. This example can be the basis for other more specialized solutions. This solution only uses a portion of the GreenPAK IC resources, which leaves the circuit open to additional functions limited only to the designer imagination.

The complete design file in .gp format might be found here. The design was developed in free software – GreenPAK Designer and was created using the GreenPAK Development Kit.

Avnet showcases Raspberry Pi lookalike “MaaXBoard Mini”

Posted on 18 September, 202020 September, 2020 by Micael Coutinho

Avnet’s NXP i.MX 8M Mini SBC seems very familiar if you ever seen a Raspberry Pi, as their I/O looks rather similar at first glance, but is it more than that? Actually, yes.

MaaXBoard Mini is a single board computer based on the NXP IMX8M Mini SOC series, designed by Avnet Manufacturing services. From the outside, it comes at a compact size with some interesting peripheral interface options, such as Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0 host, MiPi-DSI, MIPI-CSI, Micro SD card, Wi-Fi, Bluteooth and GPIO. Regarding the hardware, it’s based on the NXP’s first embedded multicore applications processor, which is built using the advanced 14LPC FinFET process technology, a 14 nanometer fabrication process, providing more speed and improved power efficiency over its predecessor, the i.MX 8M. However, it comes with a more limited feature set than the earlier-released MaaXBoard, where the MIPI-DSI is preffered over HDMI, leaving you with a smaller resolution of 1080p at 60fps instead of the 4K 60fps, paired with a different GPU, the 4GB DDR4 is downgraded for a mere 2GB, are some of the most noticeable changes.

The full list of specs are:

CPU Multicore Processing:
- 4x Cortex-A53 core up to 1.8GHz per core (32KB L1-I Cache / 32 kB L1-D Cache / 512 kB L2 Cache)
- 1x Cortex-M4 core up to 400MHz (16 kB L1-I Cache / 16 kB L2-D Cache)
3D GPU (1x shader, OpenGL® ES 2.0) / 2D GPU
40 Pin IO Interface (Expands I2C, SPI, UART, I2S Interfaces)
MIPI-CSI Camera Interface
MIPI-DSI Display Interface
Gigabit Ethernet interface (RJ45)
4 USB2.0 Host ports
Micro SD Card (TF Card) Interface
1 × 8bits and 1x 7bits GPIO Interface (Support Audio peripheral expand)
USB Type C power connector (5V / 3A)
1 × Power Button, 2 × User Button, 2 × User LED
Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.2
As interfaces are concerned, the name Mini is surely not applied

As software is concerned, you can be assured of Android 9.0 and Linux (Yocto and Debian) support, containing an interesting amount of documentation to work with each of them.

Regarding the accessories, you are not limited, as you can get components such as a compatible 7” display for $51.02, a MIPI-DSI camera module for an extra $12.24, a FT232 USB to UART module for $5.92 and a USB to CAN module for $28.57.

Some of the possible applications for this SBC are family entertainment systems, HMI interfaces, computer vision, and other AI and imaging projects. It comes at a cost of $72.50.

What do you think of this board? Is it just a lookalike of the Raspberry Pi for you? My opinion is that it’s quite a bit more than that, justifying the higher price tag with faster hardware and more interface options.

MaaXBoard Mini – NXP i.MX 8M Mini SBC buying website: http://www.embest-tech.com/prod_view.aspx?TypeId=117&Id=395